Productions & Events featuring Jiréh Breon Holder

April 24 - June 29, 2019

A captivating tale about the intersection of family, responsibility, and progress at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Bowzie Brandon, his wife Evelyn, and their best friends Tony and Sally-Mae see happiness on the horizon when Bowzie gets a scholarship to attend college and improve his family’s life. However, when the opportunity to become a Freedom Rider arises, Bowzie leaves his obligations as a husband and friend behind to join the fight against racism in the Deep South. TOO HEAVY FOR YOUR POCKET is a powerful look at the tenuous balance between security and risk, the bonds of love and friendship, and the personal cost of progress.

Playwright Jiréh Breon Holder was recently named one of “Tomorrow’s Marquee Names, Now in the Making” by The New York Times. Previously seen at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and in an extended Off Broadway run at Roundabout Theatre, TOO HEAVY FOR YOUR POCKET was the recipient of the 2017 Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award. Hailed “an exceptional work, one that will dive-bomb into your head and your heart” (Talkin’ Broadway) and a story “that examines life on both the margins and at the epicenter of historic change” (Stage Left), this stunning play “brings the early civil rights movement up close and personal” (Deadline).

Runs approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission

“The more I see of Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre Company, the more impressed I am ... TimeLine takes care to choose interesting plays, then mounts them with a combination of panache and physical dynamism that I find altogether irresistible.”

“I can't give you a simple answer to that tricky question, but I can tell you this: The fact that we don't is one of the many reasons why I've come to feel that the Windy City is blowing the Big Apple out of its once-secure spot at the top of America's theatrical tree.
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